In areas of Bains brothers, Babbar fails to impress

Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu with Raj Babbar during the road show in Ludhiana on Thursday. (Gurmeet Singh)

Late by more than two hours, actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar, who is a Congress candidate from Ghaziabad, on Thursday failed to impress the masses in the constituencies of Simarjit Singh Bains and his brother Balwinder Bains.

Babbar was in the city to campaign for Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu. While his road show was scheduled to begin at 11.30 am from Sangeet Cinema, he finally arrived at 2 pm and joined Bittu in Kot Mangal Singh area.

The Congress had planned the road show deliberately in Atam Nagar, the constituency of Simarjit Singh Bains, and Ludhiana South, Balwinder Singh Bains’s constituency, to pull in crowds. However, except for the Congress workers’ cars and motorbikes, people did not turn up.

While no one was there to welcome the leaders at the majority of intersections, some shopkeepers and residents only came out to have a glimpse of Babbar.

There were many traffic rule violations by the Congress workers. Most of them were sticking out their necks out of the car windows with the Congress flags. Also, the commuters were a hassled lot as Bittu’s cavalcade moved at a snail’s pace in the congested streets of Atam Nagar.

Addressing people, Babbar tried to revoke the legacy of Bittu’s grandfather Beant Singh, the former Punjab chief minister. “Your candidate is the grandson of great Beant Singh who sacrificed his life for betterment of Punjab. He is the one because of whom Punjab got free from terrorism. So please vote for Congress,” he said.

Widespread littering on roads was done by the Congress workers who flooded the Gill road with disposable water glasses and wrappers of other eatables. Even police officials, accompanying Bittu’s road show, were seen littering the roads.

There was no response to the slogans being raised by the Congress workers like “Aa gaya Bittu, chhaa gaya Bittu” and “Panje wala aa gaya, panje wala chhaa gaya” as the cavalcade moved on up to the Waheguru Road.

Babbar’s chopper landed at the Punjab Agricultural University around 1.40 pm while people had been waiting for him at Sangeet Cinema since 11.30 am. But as Babbar got late by two hours, Bittu finally decided to move on with the road show at 12.30 and Babbar joined them later in Kot Mangal Singh area.